My paternal great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs, is mentioned in a new book about the legendary men and women of Crookston, appropriately titled Legendary Locals of Crookston (Arcadia 2014). There is a page about him in the chapter about music and entertainment, and a 1902 photo of him with the community band he directed.

The page came about because of this blog and our modern ability to make connections over the internet. Although the book’s author, Kristina Torkelson Gray, is a Crookston native, she had never heard of G. Oliver. But as she was working to meet her deadline, she discovered my blog through a post I wrote in December 2013 about Ted Thorson and his brother Nels (Encyclopedia Riggs and A Tale of Two Thorsons).

T. W.

I have been getting up early for the past few days of summer vacation to work on my book about my great-grandfather, the real-life music man. It has felt great. When my alarm goes off, I’m often already awake. I lie in bed for a few minutes (OK, sometimes more like ten), thinking about the day ahead and my writing goals. Then I give myself a mini pep talk, I go downstairs and make some coffee, and I open up my laptop.
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One thing that strikes me, when I read newspapers from a century ago, is how similar the story topics are to those covered in modern newspapers. Tales of murder and deceit continue to fascinate (and make the front page), natural disasters still cause death and destruction, and people never tire of debating the best methods for raising children.

Another thing that strikes me is how a person who is so well known to people of one generation can be so forgotten a century later.
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